It's now or never for UConn star guard Paige Bueckers.

The No. 2-seed Huskies have reached the Final Four in the women's NCAA tournament where they will face No. 1 UCLA with a ticket to the national championship game on the line. This is fairly familiar territory for Geno Auriemma and the UConn women's basketball program, who have amassed a record 24 Final Four berths, and marks Bueckers's fourth Final Four in as many years. (Bueckers missed the 2023 to injury and UConn was eliminated in the Sweet 16 that season.)

With Bueckers expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft later this month, the redshirt senior is seeking the picture-perfect ending to her legendary UConn career, hoping to join the likes of Maya Moore, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi by clinching the ever-elusive NCAA championship.

Ahead of the Huskies' toughest clash against the Bruins on Friday night, Bueckers didn't mince words about how badly she wants to play in the title game.

"Once you walk inside [UConn's] practice facility, you see all the history, all the names, all the banners," Bueckers said in Thursday's presser. "It's just motivation. Obviously, there's expectations here. Anything less than a national championship is really a disappointment.

"As players, that's what you play for and what you want to live up to. The expectations and the pressure, it's a privilege. We all look at is as such."

Bueckers has more than proven she can handle the growing pressure in her final Big Dance. The Huskies guard has fought her way back from two major knee injuries and is playing some of the best basketball of her career so far, putting up 30 points or more in each of her last three games to help lift the Huskies to do-or-die victories.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma recently shared his thoughts on Bueckers's ability to rise above the noise and gave a confident endorsement of his superstar guard.

"That's the biggest worry that I always have," Auriemma told The Athletic. "That if a kid gets overwhelmed by the attention and the adulation and the expectation, then you're always scared, what if at some point she wakes up one morning and goes, 'What if I can't live up to it?' The sucker never does that."

Bueckers and UConn will square off against UCLA for a spot in the national championship on Friday at 9 p.m. ET at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paige Bueckers Had Refreshingly Honest Take on UConn’s NCAA Title Hopes.